


Then Stay Away

by everybodylies



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Episode: s08e10 Runaways, Gen, Season 8
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-13
Updated: 2012-08-13
Packaged: 2017-11-12 00:50:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/484787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everybodylies/pseuds/everybodylies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A deleted scene from Runaways. Chase connects with the patient.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Then Stay Away

**Author's Note:**

> So was anyone else horribly frustrated when they wrote an episode about a kid whose dad was gone and whose mom developed a substance abuse problem, and then _didn't mention Chase's childhood at all_?!?!? Yeah, me too.

Adams enters the patient's room warily, trying not to flinch when Callie glares at her. Perhaps she shouldn't have shared her own running away from home story, shouldn't have tried talking to the girl about her mother, but she'd only wanted to help.

Following her in, Chase walks to the side of the bed.

"Hi Callie," he greets charismatically, while Adams changes the IV bag, "we're just here to see how the treatment is working. I'm Dr. Chase. We haven't met yet, but I performed your endoscopy. How're you feeling?" Callie is more responsive with Chase, and Adams feels that familiar pang of jealousy she gets whenever Chase manages to get along flawlessly with all his patients. Did the man have to be good at everything?

"I feel just as bad as I did last night," Callie replies, with less malice than she would've had Adams been the one asking. "I told you guys, I'm not an alcoholic."

Chase gives her a pitying smile. "Well, unfortunately for you, that's expected. The treatment's gonna take a little longer to start working."

Callie crosses her arms and turns to look at Adams, ice in her eyes."If I die, it's on you guys." The ice disappears as she turns back to Chase, though her voice still has that accusatory tone. "So what's your opinion, I wonder? About me and my running away. I know you've got one and you're just _dying_ to share it. Everyone has one."

Adams decides to intervene before things get ugly. "Don't answer her," she warns. "She doesn't appreciate it when those who haven't experienced the same thing she has try to share their opinions." Her annoyance and frustration show in her voice, though she didn't intend it.

Chase gets an odd look on his face, one she's never seen on him before, and looks down at the ground. "That makes sense," he mumbles. "I'll keep my mouth shut." He begins to walk toward the door.

"Wait," Callie calls out. "No." Chase turns around, and Adams watches, curious. "For some inconceivable reason, every doctor that's walked in here has felt this irritating need to share their opinion, be it in support or in criticism. But you…" Somehow the room had grown increasingly solemn over the past few seconds. Adams holds her breath. "You know what I'm going through. You've been there."

It couldn't be. Chase? The golden boy who did what he wanted and got what he wanted?

Chase shakes his head. "No. I-I-…" He's lost for words, and Adams doesn't think she's ever seen him like this. Callie cocks her head, raising an eyebrow.

"Come on, Dr. Chase."

Chase sighs and sinks into the seat by Callie's bed, eyes still focused on the floor. He looks… tired.

He leans forward, putting his elbows on his knees and clasps his hands together. "It was my mother, too. Dad left her, left us, and she took to drinking." Adams had known Chase had some issues… but this? Callie has a look of resigned understanding on her face. "I suppose I was luckier than you were. My dad sent us checks in the mail every once in a while, so I didn't have to get a full time job. Of course, if my mother saw them while she was drunk, which was often, she tore them up in anger, and I had to get a part-time job to make it up." Adams doesn't know what she should do. Put a hand on his shoulder? But the moment is carrying on without her, and she feels frozen to where she's standing on the other side of the room, not wanting to intrude.

Finally, Chase looks up. "You made the right choice," he says. "I tried everything to get her to stop drinking. I hid the booze, I threatened to call the police, I even ran away for a few days, just like you. But nothing worked, and she never stopped drinking, not until the day she died. Now, I don't know your mother very well, but mine… she didn't change." And then the moment ends, the world starts spinning again, and Chase seems to close back up. He gives Callie a nod and exits quickly. Adams gets an "I told you so" face from Callie before she follows Chase out.

She catches up with Chase in the hallway and stops him so they can talk. "Was that story true?" she asks, before she can think about how that question might offend him.

He gives her a horrified look. "You think I would make something like that up? So I could, what? Turn the patient even further against you?"

She shrugs."Well, you know, last time I checked, you still had your tonsils."

Chase's mouth twists into a frown. "Touché," he replies humorlessly. He's silent for thirty seconds or so, making eye contact with everyone who passes by, but not her. "It's true." He walks off without her, and Adams watches him go.

He was supposed to be like her: the well-adjusted pretty boy who had a completely normal upbringing. But it turned out there was someone else there, buried underneath, so deep she hadn't even considered the possibility that he existed. And she gets the feeling that there's more, much more, buried even deeper. She wonders if she'll ever truly understand. She doubts it.

And hours later, when they find that Callie ran away again and House is berating her for trying to find absolution during work hours, she'll think of a fifteen year-old Chase with floppy hair and hard eyes, pouring bottle after bottle of distilled spirits into the sink, the air sharp with the stench of alcohol.

**Author's Note:**

> If anybody's wondering about the tonsils comment, go back and watch The Mistake from Season Two, a great Chase episode!


End file.
